U.S. patent number 7,357,663 [Application Number 11/708,862] was granted by the patent office on 2008-04-15 for electrical connector with latching member.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Guo-Jiun Shiu, Ti-Li Wei.
United States Patent |
7,357,663 |
Wei , et al. |
April 15, 2008 |
Electrical connector with latching member
Abstract
An electrical connector comprises an insulative housing (1)
defining an receiving cavity (10); a plurality of conductive
terminals (2) disposed in the housing and each terminal having a
contact beam (21) with a contact portion exposed to the receiving
cavity; a pressing member (3) having a pair of latching arms (31)
and associated with the housing by the latching arms, the pressing
member movable between an opened position and a closed position;
and a pair of latching members (4) assembled on the housing and
each latching member comprising a resilient arm (40) having a
latching portion (401). When the pressing member arrives at the
closed position, the latching arms urge corresponding resilient
arms to move toward the receiving cavity so as to achieve an
engagement between the latching portions and the sheet-like
connection member.
Inventors: |
Wei; Ti-Li (Tu-Cheng,
TW), Shiu; Guo-Jiun (Tu-Cheng, TW) |
Assignee: |
Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co.,
Ltd. (Taipei Hsien, TW)
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Family
ID: |
37966978 |
Appl.
No.: |
11/708,862 |
Filed: |
February 21, 2007 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20070202737 A1 |
Aug 30, 2007 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Feb 27, 2006 [TW] |
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95203254 U |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
439/495; 439/260;
439/325; 439/329 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01R
12/79 (20130101); H01R 13/193 (20130101); H01R
12/85 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01R
12/24 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;439/495,493,325,329,492,496 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Luebke; Renee
Assistant Examiner: Patel; Harshad C
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Chung; Wei Te
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An electrical connector for connecting with a sheet-like
connection member, comprising: an insulative housing defining
receiving cavity; a plurality of conductive terminals disposed in
the housing and each terminal having a contact beam with a contact
portion exposed to the receiving cavity; a pressing member having a
pair of latching arms formed at lengthwise ends, the pressing
member associated with the housing by the latching arms and movable
between an opened position where the sheet-like connection member
is permitted to enter into the receiving cavity and a closed
position where the pressing member urges the sheet-like connection
member to electrically connect with the contact portions of the
terminals; and a pair of latching members assembled on the housing
and each latching member comprising a resilient arm having a
latching portion, when the pressing member arrives at the closed
position, the latching arms urge corresponding resilient arms to
move into the receiving cavity so as to achieve an engagement
between the latching portions and the sheet-like connection
member.
2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
latching portion extends perpendicular to the resilient arm.
3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the
latching portion is bent from a distal end of the resilient
arm.
4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
resilient arm has a bearing portion abutting against the
corresponding latching arm of the pressing member.
5. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
latching member comprises a retention portion extending parallel to
the resilient arm and frictionally engaging with the housing.
6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
pressing member has a tongue plate located between the latching
arms for being received in the receiving cavity of the housing.
7. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
latching member has a solder portion for connecting to a printed
circuit board where the electrical connector is mounted.
8. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
latching member has a flat plate portion extending parallel to and
opposite to the resilient arm and a side plate portion for joining
the resilient arm with the flat plate portion, thereby a passageway
for accommodating the lathing arm of the pressing member is formed
by the flat plate portion, the side plate portion and the resilient
arm.
9. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
latching arm has an enlarged portion and a slim portion extending
from the enlarged portion, both of which have inner surfaces for
directly contacting the resilient arm of the pressing member, and
wherein the inner surface of the enlarged portion is located closer
to the receiving cavity than that of the slim portion.
10. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 9, wherein when
the pressing member is in the opened position, the inner surface of
the slim portion contact with the resilient arm, but when the
pressing member is in the closed position, the inner surface of the
enlarged portion is shifted to contact with the resilient arm, and
further have the latching portion latch on the sheet-like
connection member.
11. An electrical connector comprising: an insulative housing
defining a mating cavity extending rearward from a front face
thereof; a plurality of contacts disposed in the housing and
extending into the mating cavity; a pressing member moveably
assembled to the housing between open and closed positions, said
pressing member including a pair of latching arms at two opposite
ends; and a pair of latching members located at two opposite ends
of the housing, each of said latching members defining resilient
arm with a locking lug thereon wherein when the pressing member is
in the closed position, the resilient arm is located at a first
position latching the lug into a notch of a flexible printed
circuit board; when the pressing member is in an open position, the
resilient arm is located at a second position unlatching the lug
from the notch of the flexible printed circuit board.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more
particularly to an electrical connector for a sheet-like connection
member such as a flexible printed circuit or a flexible flat
cable.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,240 discloses a conventional connector adapted
for connecting a flexible printed circuit (FPC). The electrical
connector includes a housing having an insertion cavity for
receiving the FPC, a plurality of conductive terminals disposed in
the housing side by side along a longitudinal direction and a
pressing member which is movable between an opened position and a
closed position along an insertion direction of the FPC. A pair of
board locks are provided on longwise ends of the housing. Each
board lock has a latching portion for blocking the pressing member
breaking away from the housing, a solder portion for soldering the
connector to a printed circuit board and a retention portion for
frictionally securing the board lock onto the housing. The pressing
member has a tongue plate and a pair of latching arms extending
along the tongue plate for latching with the latching portions of
the board locks. When the FPC is assembled into the insertion
cavity, the pressing member is shifted from opened position to the
closed position. Meanwhile, the tongue plate urges the FPC to
electrically connect with contact portions of the conductive
terminals. That is, the FPC is held in the insertion cavity by the
tongue plate and contact portions. However, this configuration of
the electrical connector makes the sheet-like connection member
easily departing away its proper position when the sheet-like
connection member suffers from some unexpectable external forces
during transporting or using or other applications.
Therefore, a new connector is desired to overcome the disadvantage
of the prior art connector.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical
connector with a latching member which can stably retain a
sheet-like connection member therein.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an electrical
connector for a sheet-like connection member in accordance with the
present invention is provided. The electrical connector comprises
an insulative housing defining an receiving cavity; a plurality of
conductive terminals disposed in the housing and each terminal
having a contact beam with a contact portion exposed to the
receiving cavity; a pressing member having a pair of latching arms
formed its lengthwise ends thereof, the pressing member associated
with the housing by the latching arms and movable between an opened
position where the sheet-like connection is permitted to enter in
the receiving cavity and a closed position where the pressing
member urges the sheet-like connection member to electrically
connect with the contact portions of the terminals; and a pair of
latching members assembled on the housing and each latching member
comprising a resilient arm having a latching portion. When the
pressing member is moved to the closed position, the latching arms
urge corresponding resilient arms to move toward the receiving
cavity so as to achieve an electrical stable engagement between the
latching portions and the sheet-like connection member.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present
invention will become more apparent from the following detailed
description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction
with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view of an electrical connector
in accordance with the present invention, wherein a pressing member
is in an opened position;
FIG. 2 is a similar view of FIG. 1, but the pressing member is in a
closed position;
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the electrical
connector;
FIG. 4 is similar view of FIG. 3, but taken from another
aspect;
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along line
5-5;
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 taken along line 6-6;
and
FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of latching members of the electrical
connector.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the
preferred embodiment of the present invention in detail.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 7, an electrical connector for connecting
a sheet-like connection member (not shown) in accordance with the
present invention is provided. The electrical connector comprises
an insulative housing 1, a plurality of conductive terminals 2
disposed in the housing 1, a pressing member 3 and a pair of
latching members 4.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the housing 1 is provided with a
receiving cavity 10 extending along a longitudinal direction for
receiving the sheet-like connection member therein. The receiving
cavity 10 is surrounded by an upper wall 11, a lower wall 12 and a
pair of lateral walls connecting the upper and lower walls
together. The upper and lower walls 11, 12 are provided with a
plurality of terminals channels 15 for retaining said terminals 2.
Each lateral wall defines a L-shaped groove 13 and a slot 14 both
extending from a rear surface of the housing 1 along a
front-to-back direction perpendicular to the longitudinal
direction, and the L-shaped groove 13 is located below the slot 14.
The lateral wall further forms a blocking tuber 16 before the slot
14.
Each terminal has a base portion 20, a retention beam 22 extending
substantially perpendicular to the base portion 20, a contact beam
21 branching from the retention beam 22 and extending substantially
parallel to the retention beam 22 and two solder portions 23
extending outward from two ends of the base portion 20. The contact
beam 21 has a contact portion projecting into the receiving cavity
10 of the housing 1.
The pressing member 3 has a tongue plate 30 for urging the
sheet-like connection member 5 to electrically connect with the
contact portions, a pair of latching arms 31 respectively located
lateral sides of the tongue plate 30 and a base plate 32 connecting
the tongue plate 30 and the pair of latching arms 31 together. Each
latching arm 31 has an enlarged portion joining with the base plate
32 and a slim portion extending from the enlarged portion with a
projection 310 formed a distal end thereof. The projections 310,
extend oppositely toward the tongue plate 30. Moreover, both of the
enlarged portion and the slim portion have inner surfaces
neighboring the tongue plate 30, and the inner surface of the
enlarged portion has a shorter distance relative to the tongue
plate 30 in the longitudinal direction than that of the slim
portion.
Referring to FIGS. 3, 4 and 7, the latching member 4 comprises a
flat plate portion 43 which has an edge portion for being retained
in the slot 14, a resilient arm 40 extending substantially parallel
to the flat plate portion 43 and a side plate portion 44 connecting
the flat plate portion 43 with the resilient arm 40. Moreover, said
parts of the latching member forms a passageway for the latching
arms 31 of the pressing member 3 sliding there in the front-to-back
direction. The latching member 4 further comprises a retention
portion 41 extending from the joining portion of the resilient arm
40 and the side plate portion 44 for frictionally engaging with the
housing 1 and a solder portion 42 extending from the joining
portion opposite to the resilient arm 40 for connecting a printed
circuit board where the electrical connector is mounted. The
retention portion 41 cooperates with the resilient arm 40 to be
received in said L-shaped groove 13.
The resilient arm 40 is provided with a latching portion 401
neighboring on the receiving space 10 of the housing 1 and a
bearing portion 45 neighboring on the latching arms 31 of the
pressing member 3. In this embodiment, the latching portion 401 and
the bearing portion 45 are both formed at a distal end of the
resilient arm 40 and extending opposite to each other.
When assembling, the latching members 4 are respectively retained
in the lateral walls from the rear end of the housing 1. The
pressing member 3 is mounted to the housing 1 along a direction
opposite to the latching members 4. The pressing member 3 is
movable between an opened position (shown in FIG. 1) and a closed
position (shown in FIG. 2) along the front-to-back direction.
When the pressing member 3 is in the opened position, the latching
arms 31 are located into the corresponding passageways of the
latching members 4, thereby the inner surface of the slim portion
directly contact with the bearing portion 45 of the latching member
4 (shown in FIG. 5). Moreover, if the bearing portions 45 are
damaged, the projection 310 can instead of the bearing portions to
lock with the blocking tubers 16 of the housing 1 to prevent the
pressing member 3 breaking away the housing 1. After the sheet-like
connection member being completely inserted into the receiving
cavity 10, the pressing member 3 is pushed toward the closed
portion. Further referring to FIG. 6, the resilient arm 40 contacts
with the enlarged portion of the latching arm 31 unless the
pressing member 3 is in the closed portion. For the inner surface
of the enlarged portion has a shorter distance relative to the
tongue plate 30 in the longitudinal direction than that of the slim
portion, the distal end of the resilient arm 40 is resiliently
distorted into the receiving cavity 10. Meanwhile, the latching
portions 401 are locked with the sheet-like connection member so
that the sheet-like connection member is firmly retained in the
housing 1, and a stable electrical connection between the
sheet-like connection member and the terminals 2 is accordingly
achieved. Additionally, when the pressing member 3 arrives at the
closed position, the blocking tubers 16 of the lateral walls abut
against the base plate 32 for avoiding over insertion of the
pressing member 3. If the sheet-like connection member is required
to be removed, the pressing member is pulled back. When the bearing
portions contact with the inner surfaces of slim portions of the
latching arms 31, the resilient arms 40 returns to its original
position by elasticity, and the latching portion 401 is disengaged
from the sheet-like connection member. In this moment, the
sheet-like connection member can be removed out of the housing
1.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous
characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been
set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of
the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is
illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in
matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the
principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the
broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are
expressed.
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